Frederator and Seibert have been credited with producing various, critically-acclaimed media projects, predominantly in children's animation.[2][3] The studio has locations in New York City, where Frederator Digital is based,[4] and Burbank, California.[5]
In 2016, Frederator would be acquired by Canadian animation studio Rainmaker, and merged into Wow! Unlimited Media where Seibert was Chief Creator Officer; he would remain at the company until August 2020. After departing, he would found a successor company, FredFilms, in February 2021.[6]
History
Founding and early years
Before Frederator, in 1983, Fred Seibert founded Fred/Alan, Inc. in New York City with his college friend Alan Goodman; in 1988, Fred/Alan partnered with Albie Hecht in Chauncey Street Productions to produce television programs for Nickelodeon, MTV, A&E, and CBS. The Fred/Alan firm closed down in 1992.
Seibert became the president of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons in 1992, and created What a Cartoon!, a showcase consisting of 48 shorts that aired on Cartoon Network. In 1996, when Time Warner merged with Turner Broadcasting (owner of Hanna-Barbera), he left the studio.
In 2004, David Karp interned at Frederator Studios at its first Manhattan location, and built their first blogging platform.[10] In 2007, he launched Tumblr from a rented desk at Frederator Studios' Park Avenue South offices, with chief engineer Marco Arment.[11][12] Seibert was one of Tumblr's first bloggers.[13]
On November 1, 2005, Frederator launched what it called "the first cartoon podcast."[14] Named Channel Frederator by David Karp (who also structured and edited the initial episodes), this weekly animation network features submitted films from around the world, and quickly became one of the top video podcasts on Apple Inc.'s iTunes. In quick succession, The Wubbcast was launched for pre-schoolers in January 2006, and ReFrederator featuring vintage public domain cartoons in April 2006. Channel Frederator became the model for Seibert's media company Next New Networks and reaches almost 4,000,000 video views monthly.
On June 25, 2007 Variety article announced the studio had formed Frederator Films, dedicated to creating animated feature films budgeted under $20million.[15] Frederator's first feature is set up at Paramount Pictures, co-produced with J. J. Abrams' Bad Robot. They have also set up their first two animated features in a first look production arrangement for Sony Pictures Animation.[16]
Expansion into web animation
The studio produced its first original internet cartoons with independent animator Dan Meth. The Meth Minute 39 launched on September 5, 2007, featuring 39 of Meth's original character shorts. (The first cartoon was "Internet People", a video on the viral video sites YouTube and MySpaceTV that featured some popular Internet memes and internet people.) A spin-off, Nite Fite, debuted in October 2008. These series have totaled over 35,000,000 video views to date.
Frederator Studios became a division of parent Frederator Networks when founder Fred Seibert announced the company's new YouTube funded channel and adult production label, Cartoon Hangover in February 2012[17] and 18 months later started the Channel Frederator Network, a multi-channel network(MCN) dedicated to helping individual YouTube animation creators distribute and monetize their owned and operated channels. At launch, Frederator produced three animated series for Cartoon Hangover: Bravest Warriors, created by Pendleton Ward; SuperFuckers, created by James Kochalka; and Too Cool! Cartoons, an incubator featuring content from different animators.[18]Bravest Warriors premiered on November 8, 2012 and SuperFuckers premiered on November 30, 2012.
In July 2013 as part of Too Cool! Cartoons Cartoon Hangover premiered the first part of the 10-minute short film, Bee and PuppyCat created by Natasha Allegri. Due to its popularity, in November 2013 Frederator launched a Kickstarter to fund a first season of the series,[19] which was successful and raised $872,133 toward more episodes of the show. The project was the most funded animation and web series Kickstarter at the conclusion, and the fourth most-funded Film/Video project.[20]
In 2013, Frederator launched a digital-only ebook company, Frederator Books. Frederator Books published its first title, "The Lieography of Babe Ruth" in March 2013.[citation needed]
In 2014, Frederator announced the launch of The Channel Frederator Network, a Multi Channel Network (MCN) of independently owned animation channels on YouTube.[21] Since its start, Channel Frederator Network has generated more than one billion views, and averages more than 30million views a month, across its network of more than 200 channels.[22] Some of its leading channels are FilmCow (just over 1million subscribers), Cartoon Hangover (over 1million subscribers),[23] and Simon's Cat (over 2,800,000 subscribers),[24] which is YouTube's #2 animated channel.[25] Once part of the network, Frederator handles all advertising and distribution for its channels on YouTube, promoting the show and its licensed merchandise.[26]
As of 2016, Mexican animation studio Ánima Estudios and Frederator Studios have launched a new YouTube network, called Átomo Network, focusing on Spanish-language content.[27]
Acquisition by Rainmaker; Wow Unlimited merger, and Kartoon Studios ownership
In December 2016, Canadian studio Rainmaker Entertainment (now, and originally known as, Mainframe) acquired Frederator Networks. Together with Ezrin Hirsh Entertainment (EHE), the three would be merged into the holding company Wow Unlimited Media, Inc..[28]
In August 2020, it was announced Fred Seibert would resign as CEO of Frederator Studios. Michael Hirsh, co-founder of Canadian studio Nelvana, would take over.[29]
On October 27, 2021, Genius Brands (now Kartoon Studios) announced that it had agreed to acquire Wow Unlimited Media for C$66 million (US$53 million), with the transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.[30] The acquisition was completed on April 7, 2022.[31]
In January 2023, 50% of the rights to Bravest Warriors and Bee and Puppycat was sold to Japanese studio Toho International.[32]
Oh Yeah! Cartoons is an American animated anthology series that aired on Nickelodeon. Created by Fred Seibert, it was produced by Frederator Incorporated and Nickelodeon Animation Studio, running as part of Nickelodeon's Nicktoons lineup. In the show's first season, it was hosted by a variety of schoolchildren, and the second season was hosted by Kenan Thompson of All That and Kenan & Kel, and later Josh Server of All That in the third and final season. Bill Burnett composed the show's theme music.
Nicktoons is a collective name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company in their copyright bylines.
The Nicktoons Film Festival was an annual event that was created by producer Fred Seibert and produced for its first three years by his Frederator Studios.
What a Cartoon! is an American animated anthology series created by Fred Seibert for Cartoon Network. The shorts were produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions; by the end of the run, a Cartoon Network Studios production tag was added to some shorts to signal they were original to the network. The project consisted of 48 cartoons, intended to return creative power to animators and artists, by recreating the atmospheres that spawned the iconic cartoon characters of the mid-20th century. Each of the shorts mirrored the structure of a theatrical cartoon, with each film being based on an original storyboard drawn and written by its artist or creator. Three of the cartoons were paired together into a half-hour episode.
Frederick G. Seibert is an American television producer and media proprietor. Often credited with having co-founded MTV in 1980, he has served as the company's creative director and president of its MTV Networks Online branch. He founded the production company Frederator Studios in 1998, as well as its spin-off entities Frederator Networks, Channel Frederator Network, and Cartoon Hangover. Having held numerous executive positions for Viacom Media Networks, he was the final president of animation studio Hanna-Barbera from 1992 to 1996. He has since co-founded Next New Networks, Bolder Media, and launched the production company FredFilms.
Random! Cartoons is an American animated anthology series that aired on Nicktoons. Much like Oh Yeah! Cartoons, it was created by Fred Seibert and produced by Frederator Studios and Nickelodeon Animation Studio. It premiered on December 6, 2008, and ended on December 20, 2009.
Ape Escape is a series of animated shorts developed by Frederator Studios, Hawaii Film Partners, Project 51 Productions and Showcase Entertainment which aired on Nicktoons in 2009. It is based on Sony Computer Entertainment's Ape Escape video game franchise, with characters and designs based on Ape Escape 2 in particular, and focuses around Specter's attempts to take over the world with his monkey army.
Bravest Warriors is an animated series. Set onwards from the year 3085, it follows four teenage heroes-for-hire as they warp through the universe to save adorable aliens and their worlds using the power of their emotions. It was created by animator Pendleton Ward, also the creator of Cartoon Network's Adventure Time.
Lawrence "Larry" Huber is an American television producer, writer, and animator who is known for his long history as a producer at Hanna-Barbera, Ruby-Spears, and Nickelodeon. Huber began his animation career in 1969 while working on Hanna-Barbera's The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. He went on to work for Ruby-Spears for 15 years. Returning to Hanna-Barbera in 1990, Huber worked on 2 Stupid Dogs and Fish Police. He was hired by Buzz Potamkin to supervise production on Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons in 1995.
"Adventure Time" is an animated short film created by Pendleton Ward, as well as the pilot to the Cartoon Network series of the same name. The short follows the adventures of Pen, a human boy, and his best friend Jake, a dog with magical powers to change shape and grow and shrink at will. In this episode, Pen and Jake have to rescue Princess Bubblegum from the antagonistic Ice King.
Cartoon Hangover is a Frederator internet television channel and adult animation division, part of the YouTube Original Channel Initiative, launched in February 2012.
The Channel Frederator Network is an American animation, video game and pop culture Multi-Channel Network (MCN) founded by cartoon producer and serial media entrepreneur Fred Seibert and managed by Frederator Networks.
Too Cool! Cartoons is a series of adult animated shorts on the YouTube channel Cartoon Hangover. It was created by Fred Seibert and produced by Frederator Studios. The series premiered on April 4, 2013, with the short Our New Electrical Morals. It was planned to feature 39 shorts but ended up releasing only 11 shorts.
Bee and PuppyCat is an American animated television series created and written by Natasha Allegri. The series revolves around Bee, an unemployed woman in her early twenties, who encounters a mysterious creature named PuppyCat. She adopts this apparent cat-dog hybrid, and together they go on a series of temporary jobs to pay off her monthly rent. These bizarre jobs take the duo across strange worlds out in space. The original series was produced by Frederator Studios with the animation initially outsourced to South Korean studio Dong Woo Animation.
Frederator Networks, Inc. is a media company founded by Fred Seibert. It makes and distributes cartoons, often on Channel Frederator, and through its in-house animation studio Frederator Studios. It is the largest distributor of independent animation online.
Wow Unlimited Media Inc. is a Canadian animation and media holding company. It was formed as a result of a merger between Rainmaker Entertainment, Frederator Networks and Ezrin Hirsh Entertainment (EHE). The company is currently a subsidiary of US-based Kartoon Studios.
Go! Cartoons, stylized as GO! Cartoons, is a series of animated shorts produced by Frederator Studios and Sony Pictures Animation. The series premiered on November 7, 2017, with the short The Summoning. It features 12 shorts, airing on VRV and Cartoon Hangover's YouTube channel. Go! Cartoons is Frederator Studios' sixth cartoon "incubator" series since 1998.
These are the filmographies for the cartoon shorts series created by American animation producer Fred Seibert at and the animation production company he founded, Frederator Studios. His previous shorts series –What A Cartoon!– was produced while he was president at Hanna-Barbera.
These are the complete filmographies for the cartoon shorts series created by American animation producer Fred Seibert from 1995 through 2022, at Hanna-Barbera Cartoons and his animation production companies Frederator Studios and FredFilms.
↑ Karp, David; Alexandria, Julie (May 27, 2008). David Karp and Tumblr (Video). Wallstrip. Event occurs at 1:30. Retrieved February 24, 2013. Sometime in 2006, we had a couple of weeks between contracts and said 'Let's see what we can do, let's see if we can built this thing', and we threw together the first working version of Tumblr.
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